Sunday, July 24, 2016

Recently Revealed Mercedes-AMG GT R Will Have Surprisingly Short Run

Ever since its release, the new GT R has gotten a whole lot of attention in the media. It’s been scouted by Michael Bay to be one of the next Transformer’s movie’s autobot protagonists and been preordered by YouTube personality Shmee150. With all of this media hype you’d expect Mercedes to roll out production and rank in the bank for their amazing car. They’re doing exactly the opposite with announcing that no more than 2000 will be produced worldwide making this one of the most exclusive cars of the modern market.

So while it is likely you won’t be able to get your hands on the GT R, you can still feel like you’re behind the wheels of one by upgrading your engine and going on from there until your Mercedes-Benz may as well be an honorary GT R.

Lewis Hamilton even blurted something about an LH Series of the GT R, but I’m exactly sure that will pan out. More recently, Autocar reports that Mercedes-AMG has hinted that production of the GT R “could be limited to just 2,000 units, when asked about build numbers at the car’s recent launch.”

If you ask me, that’s a teeny-weeny bit uncanny. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG of yesteryear, for example, sold a total of 2,733 units in Gullwing and Roadster forms throughout its production cycle in the U.S. alone. Why would the mad professors in Affalterbach limit production of the GT R other than for the sake of exclusivity is beyond me. Be that as it may, Mercedes-AMG is reportedly working on an even more extreme Black Series iteration.

That said, the next model to debut in the GT lineup is the Roadster. Slated to arrive in 2017, the open top variant of the GT be available in two flavors: 462 PS (456 hp) and 600 Nm (442,5 lb-ft) or 510 PS (503 hp) and 650 Nm (479 lb-ft) of torque. Estimated time of arrival? Next year at either Detroit or Geneva.Continue Reading